Date 28 August 2000
Number 84/00
ATLANTIS DRILLING RESULTS CONFIRM
MAJOR GULF OF MEXICO OIL DISCOVERY
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP) today announced further
results from the Atlantis 2 appraisal well confirming a major oil accumulation
with a multi-hundred million barrel resource potential.
Atlantis 2, located in the Atwater Foldbelt ultra deepwater area of the Gulf
of Mexico, encountered further oil bearing sands with net pay in excess of
61m (200ft). The oil zone, together with the oil-bearing sands reported in
July this year, gives a total net pay of over 153m (500ft).
Participants in the Atlantis 2 well are BHP 44 per cent and BP Amoco
(operator) 56 per cent.
President BHP Petroleum Philip Aiken said the result was excellent and
confirmed the material nature of the Atlantis accumulation.
"This is an important result for BHP in what is a major new hydrocarbon
province in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. We look forward to progressing
with our partners through further measured appraisal to development as soon
as the program will allow."
Atlantis is one of three BHP/BP Amoco discoveries in the Atwater Foldbelt:
Neptune (BHP 42.5%), located 16 miles (25 kms) northeast of Atlantis, was
discovered in 1995 and Mad Dog (BHP 23.9%), located a similar distance to
the southwest, was discovered in late 1998. A net pay of 135m (440ft) has
been reported at Mad Dog.
The Atlantis 2 well is the second well drilled on the discovery and has
reached its planned total depth of 5670m (18 600 feet). The well was drilled
by the BHP-operated C.R. Luigs dynamically-positioned drilling vessel and is
located in Green Canyon Block 743 in a water depth of 2 035m (6 675ft).
The Atlantis 1 discovery well was drilled in 1998 in Green Canyon Block 699
(5km [3 miles] to the northeast of the current well) where it also encountered
oil-bearing Miocene sands.
A sidetrack will now be drilled from the existing Atlantis 2 wellbore in
order to secure further data on the lateral extent and nature of the
reservoirs, which will be important in determining the resource volumes.
In addition, a second appraisal well on Mad Dog will commence drilling within
a few weeks, which follows the first appraisal well drilled earlier this year.
* * * *
Further information and other BHP News Releases can be found on our internet
site at: http://www.bhp.com
Contact:
Melbourne:
Media Relations
Mandy Frostick
Manager Media Relations
Phone: 61 3 9609 4157
Mobile: 61 419 546 245
Malcolm Garratt
Group Manager External Affairs
Phone: 61 3 9652 6872
Mobile: 61 419 582 255
Investor Relations
Robert Porter
Vice President Investor Relations
Phone: 61 3 9609 3540
Mobile: 61 419 587 456
Houston:
Kent Grubbs
Vice President Strategic Planning and External Affairs
Phone: 1 713 9618 523
Candy Ramsey
BHP Investor Relations Houston
Tel: (713) 961-8640
